Anyone who has followed the torrid development history of Septerra Core knows that this is labor of love for its creators at Valkyrie Studios. What started as an epic role-playing game (RPG) aspiring to the grandeur of Final Fantasy VII, almost became vaporware when its initial publisher, Viacom New Media, went under.

Given the constraints of our review format we couldn't go into much detail comparing the two games every Deathmatch fan is talking about. So as an addendum, we offer what we feel are the standout reasons for our scores in our reviews and also give our users a sense of where we stand on the genre itself.

Yet, by far, the one thing that makes Unreal Tournament such a worthy contender for the online multiplayer crown is the sheer amount of options that it offers over Q3A. There are more degrees of difficulty in Bot configurations, more different styles of play beyond CTF and classic Deathmatching, more maps to choose from, and even more diverse weapons (each sports an alternate fire option, which adds an entirely new dimension to the game). Almost across the board, Unreal Tournament brings more to the table than Q3A.

Walk by a couple of young kids debating their favorite sci-fi shows and youll likely find yourself dumbfounded. One kid, a zealot Trekker (Star Trek fanatic), will praise how the whole universe created in that series takes on a life of its own. Hell talk about the wondrous technology and great characters, but, much to your amazement, the next kid, a devout Babylon 5 fan (a relatively new franchise that has been consistently stealing Star Treks thunder and fans), will say the same thing about his favorite show. Their loyalty to one show over another can be puzzling to the layman because they sound as if theyre talking about the same show and few of their differing reasons are about anything substantial. Lets be honest, most of this comes down to far more simple rationale that range from personal preference to having found one show first and sticking with it.

Going multiplayer was part of John Carmacks grand experiment and I commend him for it. Whenever I cruised to some of the Quake specific web sites, there were always loads of new Quake mods available, created specifically for online Deathmatches and CTF games. This was telling proof that gamers were hungry for deathmatch-specific levels and Im really not surprised that a game like this was made for them.

Videogames have also been considered another plain old recreational activity, but with the release of the much anticipated online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS), Quake III: Arena (Q3A), that perception may finally change. The activity of Deathmatching (dueling to the death in cyberspace), which was popularized by FPS games like Q3A, may finally be considered a legitimate sport; digital or otherwise.

Its almost heart warming to see Capcom come up with such a wonderful game given their history of releasing quasi-sequels with rehashed and dated gameplay mechanics. A release like Power Stone is so full of personality and innovation that I would hope it isnt overlooked simply for its arcade look and feel. With the next-next-generation hardware, Capcom has found a way to offer a game that is a throwback to the days of 2D arcade brawlers but with new school 3D freedom. Its a clear sign of the times that hardware limitations are becoming less and less restrictive.

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